The Development of an Agricultural Force

Although the WLAA was officially established after the United States entered World War I in 1917, women’s war efforts actually began long before that. Across the nation, woman recognized the need to form organizations to spread patriotism and prepare for war and many suffragettes were on the forefront of this movement. They learned to drive, gained first aid skills, and attended military-style training schools. After learning about the Woman's Land Army in Great Britain, women also began training in agricultural work. Many eager and enthusiastic women signed up to learn these skills to fulfill their patriotic duty, while suffragettes saw this as an opportunity to show the country what women could do.

By early 1917, Europe, having been ravaged by war, was greatly reliant on American produce and the increase in food exports caused shortages in the United States. Price-gouging and uprisings were also issues because with more mouths to feed and less to go around, prices went up. In New York City in February of that year, riots broke out over the price of vegetables. In addition to the issues with food production, the country was plagued by labor shortages. With men going off to war, farm workers were badly needed. The federal government came up with various solutions to solve the labor problem. Some suggested men who had been rejected by the military could solve the labor issue by working in the fields. Others suggested sending city workers, convicts, or German prisoners of war to the farms. State governments took action by recruiting groups of boys to aid in farmwork and legalizing working the soil on Sundays, but these efforts had little impact.

Recognizing the urgency of the problem, women took the lead in solving the food and labor shortage issues. At private farms and rural locations, local women’s organizations created agricultural training programs where women learned to plant, plow, and use and repair farm machinery. Mostly university and high school students, the women were required to live on site in camps or dormitories and wear uniforms of overalls or a khaki-colored outfit. Once a sizable number of women were trained and ready to work, the next step was finding a farm willing to take them on. Most farmers were reluctant to hire women laborers because they believed the work was too strenuous for them and they were not able to provide food and housing for the farmerettes. To ease the burden on farmers, a unit system was developed where women would live together in a community in a building or camp and then travel in groups to wherever they were hired to work. Eventually some farmers agreed and many were impressed with the work of the women. Multiple women’s colleges in the eastern United States also joined the farmerette movement as labor shortages hit university farms. Students and staff relied on the products raised on these farms for food. Rather than purchasing goods, the universities recruited female students to grow and cultivate the crops. Officials and professors praised the women and commented that they performed as well as any man could have.